# Dr. Laura has finally completely lost her perspective -- if not actually her mind. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 25, 2002, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-laura-has-finally-completely-lost-her-perspective-if-not-actually-her-mind/115872 "2002-06-25T13:09:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Oblong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c0e974/32.png) [@Oblong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblong)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-laura-has-finally-completely-lost-her-perspective-if-not-actually-her-mind/115872/61 "2002-06-28T03:44:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Sorry, but after I’ve worked hard all these years for my doctorate, you better believe SOMEONE is going to be calling me “Dr.” (socially or professionally). The “Dr.” is a title that implies expertise. Many PhDs work as hard if not harder than MDs to earn that respect, and I think it’s wrong to assume snottiness in someone who simply wants to be addressed by his/her proper title. And many HVAC repairmen worked harder than a PhD to learn their trade but they aren’t shoving a title down someone’s throat. It is snottiness. Just because you worked hard at something doesn’t mean you should get singled out. I’m with the crowd that says it’s only relevant in the field. A person with a PhD in some obscure social science doesn’t do anything to make my life better. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-laura-has-finally-completely-lost-her-perspective-if-not-actually-her-mind/115872/62 "2002-06-28T04:05:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kittenblue \* > \*\* > > I did read this entire post. Several times. I think you meant **vigor** , not **rigor** since rigor is stiffness, harshness, etc and I think you didn’t meant to say she has a lack of rigidity in her views. > > \*\* While I cannot speak to what grendel \* meant \* I can assure you that he was perfectly correct in his usage. \* Intellectual rigor \* refers to her being thorough, exact and truthful. In the same way that one can have a \* rigorous \* physical activity program, one can also be \* rigorous \* in intellectual pursuits. They can both be very tough, with exacting standards…rigorous. Hers, on the other hand, are sloppy and self-serving. What would be meant by “intellectual \*\* vigor \*\*”? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-laura-has-finally-completely-lost-her-perspective-if-not-actually-her-mind/115872/63 "2002-06-28T04:23:45Z")
> [@](#): > > It is snottiness. Just because you worked hard at something doesn’t mean you should get singled out. I’m with the crowd that says it’s only relevant in the field. A person with a PhD in some obscure social science doesn’t do anything to make my life better. Like HELL it is! The majority of my professors who had PhDs were MORE than worthy of the title. Eat hell. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-laura-has-finally-completely-lost-her-perspective-if-not-actually-her-mind/115872/64 "2002-06-28T04:28:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Stoid \* > \*\* > > While I cannot speak to what grendel \* meant \* I can assure you that he was perfectly correct in his usage. \* Intellectual rigor \* refers to her being thorough, exact and truthful. In the same way that one can have a \* rigorous \* physical activity program, one can also be \* rigorous \* in intellectual pursuits. They can both be very tough, with exacting standards…rigorous. Hers, on the other hand, are sloppy and self-serving. > > What would be meant by “intellectual \*\* vigor \*\*”? \*\* You know, I really have no idea…I think I meant something similar to what you said…an active, vigorous mind, searching and exploring and striving and changing, as opposed to the stiffness meaning of rigor, which my tired little brain got stuck on. I think I was thrown by grendel’s incorrect spellings and when it didn’t sound quite right, and I looked up rigor in the dictionary to be sure, I just assumed it was another typo. Thank you for the clarification…I’ve been reading a murder mystery and the rigor mortis image was just firmly stuck in my brain. Now it makes perfect sense…but I still don’t get why people are so upset about Dr. Laura’s little “list of reasons”. So she said she thought she was smart…hey, I’d put that on my personal list too, and look at the blooper I just made. Nobody gets upset if Dr. Joy Brown considers herself smart. In fact, grendel probably would list that about grendel. Smart doesn’t mean perfect, or right, or evil or conceited. ---
**Author:** ![grendel72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/91b2a8/32.png) [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-laura-has-finally-completely-lost-her-perspective-if-not-actually-her-mind/115872/65 "2002-06-28T04:41:18Z")
I would never claim to be smart, **kitten**. I don’t know about you, but for me that falls into the “show, don’t tell” category. [sub]I’m sure you’ll say I don’t show it either, oh well…[/sub] What I meant by intellectual rigor was what **Stoid** said pretty much. Perhaps explaining it from the opposite direction would help: Bigotry, such as Dr. Laura’s, is a sign of intellectual laziness- assigning something you don’t understand to little categories rather than trying to understand them. By the way, the “gym teacher” remark was meant as a joke. It didn’t go over very well, and I’d like to apologise to any gym teachers or Physiology students out their for mentioning them in the same breath as Dr. Laura. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-laura-has-finally-completely-lost-her-perspective-if-not-actually-her-mind/115872/66 "2002-06-28T04:43:00Z")
Oh, and the poor, tired brain just remembered this: I have always looked upon Dr. Laura’s use of the title Dr. in conjunction with her radio show to be similar to a somewhat old television commercial for cough syrup…consult Dr. Mom. Just a nice folksy way of saying, Bring your problems right here for little ol’ Dr. Laura to fix. You know what I mean…Dr. Fixit, The Car Doctor, The Appliance Doctor…just a little hook to indicate that she will try to make you all better. Nothing evil, or stuck-up, or arrogant or dishonest…just entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![Com2Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@Com2Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Com2Kid)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-laura-has-finally-completely-lost-her-perspective-if-not-actually-her-mind/115872/67 "2002-06-28T04:56:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by PunditLisa \* > \*\*Dr. Laura may have a point about public schools. Once you take the “God” out of the classroom, you can kiss morality goodbye. I send my kids to parochial school where they learn how to be moral, upstanding Christians. And, no, I have NEVER witnessed any sexual acts – oral, anal, or vaginal-- being performed in the classroom. > > The sacristy, perhaps, but NEVER the classroom. \*\* I went to public schools and I ended up with morally conservative attitudes towards sex. (you WHERE being sarcastic right? I mean I make some pretty damn fucked up logical mistakes, but that one, wooh, that is sooo far out there that it had better be a joke!) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dr-laura-has-finally-completely-lost-her-perspective-if-not-actually-her-mind/115872.md?page=3)